A Tale Of Death
by ImpossibleDefined
Summary: Fred has just died, and he finds himself in a strange, dark place. He knows it isn't the end. This feeling is intensified when he meets Dawn, another half-living spirit. Will Fred find life, and possibly something else, with the aid of Dawn?
1. Chapter 1: The AfterLife, Sort Of

**Time periods are different from the books. I ****DO NOT**** own any of the Harry Potter. It belongs to JK Rowling. Enjoy! ****Do yourself a favor and listen to It's Not Over by Chris Daughtry while reading this.**

Fred watched silently as his family gathered around his body, crying. He longed to comfort them, but he couldn't.

Not anymore.

Fred trembled as his twin came to his knees at Fred's side, sobbing hysterically. This was too much for Fred, and he too collapsed, tear pouring down his face. He knew he wasn't dead; there was no finality in this darkness. He had to find a way to go back. He must.

Fred gathered his wits and stood. He turned from the image and peered through the blackness, trying to make out his surroundings. Mist seemed to crowd into almost-definable shapes and then dissipate around him. He looked down at himself. He wasn't quite mist, but he wasn't solid, either.

Fred walked slowly through the darkness. His footfalls echoed through the silence. The mist seemed to crowd around him, urging, pushing him forward. Another, definite shape seemed to appear in this distance. Fred raced toward it, and this other person seemed to run toward him, too. As they got closer to each other, Fred could see the girl's black waves bouncing off her back. Her pale skin was almost powdery white in her sheer state. Her eyes were bright, startling green, the only true color in this strange place.

She stopped in front of Fred. "Are you real? Or are you just another shade?" she asked, her wind chime-voice shaking slightly.

"I'm real. What's going on?" He asked, taking in her distressed face.

"I- I've dreamt of you. It was long ago, I think. When I was just a girl, and I was still alive. I've been in here for years searching for someone who was like me, and here you are," she whispered, looking up at Fred.

"What? I don't even know your name! And who told you that?"

The girl (or woman, it was hard to tell) blushed. "I'm so sorry. My name is Dawn Carson. I was born in 1924, and I died in 1942, three weeks after my eighteenth birthday. I was a spy for the Allies. I was captured by the Italians when I was caught sending a message to the U.S. army. I escaped, but…" She said this softly but willingly. She seemed to Fred extremely open with her feelings.

"But what?" Fred asked.

"Well, you see, when I got back home, my father was very suspicious. He was old, too old to go to war, and he was the priest at the local church, so he stayed at home. He didn't care much for me or my brother, but he wanted his family to be honored, so he sent both of us off. My father really didn't think I would come back, so when I did, he was angry. He said there was no way I could've escaped. He was a man of old superstitions, so he- he tied me to a stake and burned me for use of witchcraft," she whispered, lowering her head.

Fred, on the other hand, laughed heartily. "Really? He killed you just because he thought you were a witch? Well, I certainly hope you don't share his ways, 'cause then I'll really be dead!"

"What!" Dawn gasped. She scrambled backwards, her eyes wide.

Fred put his hands up in surrender. "Dawn, honestly, why would you be afraid of me? Wizardry isn't a sin,"

Stubbornly, Dawn crossed her arms and glared up at Fred. "Formally introduce yourself and your death, and then explain," she commanded.

Fred smiled and began speaking, "My name is Fred Weasley. I was born in 1991, and I died today, in 2011. I died in the Battle of Hogwarts, a school for witchcraft and wizardry. My entire family is still fighting at this very moment. My mother, my father, my brothers Bill, Charlie, Percy, Ron, and my sister Ginny are all still fighting. My twin, George, is out there too. We were all fighting against the Death Eaters, or Voldemort's followers."

Dawn, already fighting curiosity, gave in. "Who is Voldemort?" she asked.

"He is the reason for this war. He wants to live forever, and he doesn't like Muggle-borns or blood traitors, like my family and me. Muggles are non-magical people," he said, sensing the question, "So, were you really a witch? Or was your father just barmy?"

Dawn shook her head. "Honestly, I'm not sure. I can't remember how I escaped," she said, looking up at Fred once more.

Fred dug through his pockets, hoping. Thankfully his fingers curled around the object of his search, his wand. "Here, try using this. Flick your wrist and say _Lumos!_" He said, handing her the wand.

Dawn hesitantly gripped the wand. She raised it in the air, flicked her wrist, and said _Lumos _exactly correct.

The tip of the wand glowed white-blue in the darkness.

Dawn stared down in awe, speechless. Fred laughed and gently took his wand back. "I guess your father was right."


	2. Chapter 2: An Oath To Take To The Grave

**Time periods are different from the books. I ****DO NOT**** own any of the Harry Potter. It belongs to JK Rowling. Enjoy! Don't forget to review and subscribe, and feel free to leave suggestions!**

Fred and Dawn walked side by side through the mist, chattering away. They had the very inklings of a plan, and now Dawn explained a little better about the afterlife.

"You see, there are hundreds, if not thousands of realms. The one we're in is called Cassus Animas, or empty soul in Latin. The spirits weave in and out of each other, sharing their stories and memories here," Dawn explained.

"How do you even know this stuff?" Fred asked.

"The spirits. They here talk from the other realms. I can speak to the spirits. They cannot simply pass through me, but I can converse with them in my dreams if I so choose. Yes, you still have to sleep here," Dawn laughed, seeing Fred's exasperated expression.

"But as I was saying, there are many realms. The Cassus Animas is one of the largest. The realm we're headed to is called Urbs Crepusculum, which roughly translates to twilight city in English. But the thing is, we have to go through a whole lot of other realms to get there," Dawn said.

Fred groaned. "Are you serious? Isn't being dead enough? Besides, it's getting late, I think. We should stop," Fred said coaxingly; Dawn seemed very determined to get to the city.

Surprisingly, Dawn agreed. "We are going to need our rest if we are going to travel out of the C.A. It gets very rowdy out there, I've heard," she said, moving away from the ash-black path they were following.

The C.A. was decorated with mountains and cliffs, sealing the spirits in. Only half-life's, like Fred and Dawn, could pass. And there were very few of them.

Dawn sat down at the base of the mountain. "Would you like me to show you how to conjure things?" Fred asked, sitting beside her in the dusty grey sand.

Dawn's eyes grew slightly brighter, but she shook her head. "No, I would like to show you _my _way of survival. You know I'm such a dainty little southern belle, how could I ever survive in this harsh place without a soft pillow on which to rest my curls?" Dawn said, mockingly fluttering her eyelashes and twirling her hair. It was true that she was southern, though.

Fred laughed heartily. "Oh yes, but please let the strong British warrior take care of such a dainty little lady."

Dawn laughed, too. "Shush, I need to concentrate," she said, bumping Fred with her shoulder.

Dawn glared at the sand, and then closed her eyes, concentrating hard. Suddenly, and army-issue tent appeared, along with a pile of twigs and sticks, two canteens, and two wicker baskets.

Fred stared at Dawn in amazement. "That's so cool!" he said, before grabbing a canteen and taking a long swig.

Dawn moved over to the pile of twigs and grasped two of them tightly, striking them against each other. She cursed loudly when sparks emerged, but failed to grow into a fire.

Laughing, Fred took the sticks from Dawn and laid them down. He took out his wand once more and pointed it at the larger pile of sticks and logs, shooting out blue flames.

"Stupid British wizard," she muttered angrily.

"Foul-mouthed American spy," Fred shot back, coaxing the trembling blue fingers into tall columns of electric cobalt flames. Dawn stuck her tongue out at him, but then she sobered up.

"Fred? Where do you get a wand?" She asked tentatively, leaning down as she pulled items out of one of the wicker baskets, her long, coal black hair shrouding her face.

"My wand was made at Ollivander's wand shop. Ollivander is the best wand-maker, but there are others," He told her, laying down his poker stick.

Dawn nodded. "You know, I really would love to learn magic. It would be so very wonderful. I could make Father's words meaningless, even now, when he's gone,"

Fred put a hand on her shoulder, and Dawn looked up at him, surprised. "No matter what it takes, we _will _get out of here. I've lived a fairly large portion of my life waging war, whether it be on end-of-term exams, poverty, or Death Eaters. I won't let anybody take anything else, from either of us. We're in this together, agreed?"

Dawn nodded somberly. "Agreed. From now on, we fight for life. Together."


	3. Chapter 3: Past The Mountain

**Time periods are different from the books. I ****DO NOT**** own any of the Harry Potter. It belongs to JK Rowling. Enjoy! Don't forget to review and subscribe, and feel free to leave suggestions! NOTE: Cassus Animus actually means "Emptying the mind", and the name of the main city thingy is wrong too, so that's changed. Its pronounced oor-bay vess-pear-um, so I've changed the spelling up a bit to fix that. Sorry! (note: Animi Gelidusque is pronounced a-knee-me jelly-doo-skway)**

Fred woke early the next morning. He blinked several times, trying to remember the previous day. Memories flooded in as Fred took in his surroundings. Dawn, still sleeping peacefully beside him, lay curled into a ball, only half-covered with the sleeping bag she'd refused to sleep in. Fred tucked the sleeping bag around her, and she stirred slightly, her lips curling upward in her sleep.

So as not to disturb Dawn, Fred slowly sat up and crawled out of the tent. A cold breeze stirred through the sand. The darkness loomed closer around Fred with out the waking company of Dawn. He busied himself by re-waking the fire, which had dwindled during the night.

He pulled one of the wicker baskets toward him, going through its contents. It seemed as if the inside was much, much larger than the outside of it. This reminded Fred of the time he and George had tried to sneak a little surprise into Hermione's beaded purse.

_Fred and George ran to their old room, shutting the door and locking it. Fred threw the bag on the bed and began rummaging through the boxes left behind by him and George. George opened up another box, and he pulled out the object of their search; a Fillibuster's No Heat Wet-Start Firework and a Dungbomb. They nearly leaped back to the bed. Fred opened the bag, and he motioned for George to wait before dropping the two explosives into Hermione's purse. The two brothers peered in, and they saw neat piles of clothes and books. A tent was folded and placed in the far corner. George was all for still putting the firework and Dungbomb in, but Fred understood what the bag was for. _

Sadness coupled the old memory. Fred shook his head wearily, and he pulled a frying pan and a carton of eggs from the basket. He started to cook, humming to himself to keep the eerie silence away.

Fred took two Styrofoam plates from the basket and flipped the eggs onto them just as Dawn emerged, rubbing her eyes.

"Breakfast is ready!" Fred said, rather cheerful now that Dawn was awake.

"Uggghh. Why'd you have to wake me up? I was perfectly happy dreaming that I was hugging a gigantic, warm teddy bear. But no, you just_ had_ to get up and make me all cold," Dawn said all of this while stuffing the eggs into her mouth.

Fred held out his arms mockingly. "Awww, am I your big warm teddy bear? Do you wanna hug?" He said, grinning goofily at Dawn.

Dawn punched him in the stomach. "Fat chance," she muttered, swallowing the last bit of eggs. "Anyway, today, we'll probably be crossing the border out of the Cassus Anima. We'll be heading into Animi Gelidusque, which means "icy soul". Everything's supposed to be frozen. It's really dangerous, because you can hardly tell the solid ground from a half-frozen lake. And that makes it particularly bad for us, because from what I picked up from a conversation between two spirits last night was that you and I can actually fully die if we, you know, _die_. Again."

Fred sucked in a breath. "But after that, we get to where ever we're headed, right?" he asked.

Dawn rolled her eyes. "It's called Urbe Vesperam. Twilight city. 'Cus there's no sun, or any natural light, really. Just candles," she said, "And no, the A.G. is _not_ our last stop. You wish it was. There's a lot of other stuff out there. It might take us a few months to get there,"

Fred clapped his hands together. "So when do we start?" He asked cheerfully.

Dawn and Fred stopped at the foot of the mountain. There breath was coming out in white puffs, and Dawn had conjured herself a super mega-warm mountain-climbing jacket, and after unrelenting begging, she conjured one for Fred, too. They glared up through the light snowfall, trying to find the easiest possible way around the mountain.

"There's no way around it, and it's impossibly steep. We can't go on," Dawn moaned, dropping her head into her gloved hands.

Fred whipped out his wand. "Or can we?" he said. He raised his wand and shouted _Reducto. _He didn't truly believe that anything would happen, so it was rather surprising when the entire mountain melted away into ash, blowing into the wind.

Dawn looked up and gasped. Fred turned and looked at her, a smile making its way onto his face. "And you thought this would be hard,"

Dawn elbowed him and zipped up her jacket. "Come on, we have a long way to go," she told him.

And together, the pair made their way into the frozen glacier.


End file.
